Allan_D_Murray

Sounds interesting. The TV-B-Gone that you are using is definitely a more 'high-powered' device though (to get around those corners!). I was going for a more compact design and long battery-life, so the "Magic Button" is just line-of-sight. Feel free to use any of my design though - it is all shared here.

I had a similar issue with the interrupt line. After a lot of head banging I discovered that I had broken the very fine trace to the DREQ pin on the MP3 module when I was soldering in a new header (it came with a presoldered angle-header, so I needed to swap it out).

Thanks. Its FAT32.

Sorry, I am not sure what extra detail you are asking for. Jukebox_PCB.pdf - has the PCB artwork without components (I laser printed this on paper and used the iron-on method to transfer the artwork to copper - if you google "pcb iron on method'' you will find lots of instructions).Jukebox_Layout.pdf - shows were to insert the components.Jukebox_Schematic.pdf - is the circuit diagram with component values etc.Also, a complete list of components is included in the text.

See the first PDF in step 2 (electronics) - Jukebox_Layout.pdf - it shows components placed over the PCB tracks. Sorry, it does not show the component values, but except for some of the resistors, this should not be ambiguous. The two resistors near the center are the 1K ones, and the two vertical ones are the 20K resistors.

Sorry, I don't know how much it would cost to get the parts outsource printed - I did them on my DIY Prusa i3 (which was my previous project!)In "Electronics" (step 2) there is a list of components and three PDFs (PCB design, layout and schematic). Also in "Final Assembly" (step 7), in a couple of the photos, you can see where the PCB is mounted (to the back of the font door). I had considered many materials when trying to decide how to do the top, but in my location I could only find flexible plywood available in very large sheets at quite a high cost. But yes, if you have it, it would be a great option - and at 1/8" you would not need to change any of the dimensions I think.

Not without modification - you wouldn't be able to simply connect two panels to the same serial port.You could probably add an extra soft serial port to the main panel on a couple of the spare pins, though. You would also have to update main panel firmware to listen to the new port.

There system also has a secondary wifi-connection. The idea is to setup an old cellphone as a wi-fi hotspot plugged into the wall so that if your main broadband is down (or has been disabled by a burglar cutting your optical fibre etc) then it will contact ThingSpeak using the alternate connection.

Brilliant idea! I need one of these where I work (it's like a dungeon).

Thanks for the insight, and based on that I would also advise to use the N/C option. I included both because from what I could gather, many alarm systems (I read technical manuals of some when making this project) and sensors appear to offer both options. At the end of the day, though, real life experience is always more valuable than tech manuals - cheers!

It's all in the way that it's wired. I though it was quite a clever system when I read about it. Even though the sensor is normally open, because there is a resistor across it (at the end of the line), the alarm sees the resistance when the sensor is in the normally open state.If the alarm sees closed (ie sensor closed or wire shorted) or open state (wire cut) then the alarm sounds.

The zones are what are called 'supervised zones', with 'end-of-line-resistors' (see diagram in installation section) which means that the alarm will sound in any of these 3 scenerios:1. Sensor is triggered 2. Sensor wires are cut (ie fault or tampering)3. Sensor wires are shorted together (ie fault or tampering)There are other methods, but I wanted to be able to simply connect the existing sensors without having to rewire. My old alarm used the above method (I think it is quite common).The analogue inputs of the Arduino are used so that it can detect the three states.This method will work with normally open or normally closed contacts, but the placing of the resistors is slightly different in each case to achieve this.

Yes, my system allows for wiring with either NC or NO contacts, and you program the zone correspondingly.I think that the type of fail-safe you talking about might be built into the sensor in some cases (ie the motion sensor is designed to trip if it's power supply is cut etc). The PIR sensors (and smoke detector) sensors that I have can be wired as either NC or NO. You would probably have to read the documentation of the particular sensors that you have to establish whether it is best to use NC or NO.

Awesome idea - made one for my son for Christmas. I used 6mm MDF and a 3W screw-in LED bulb (about $5 on Ebay - comes with remote to change colour) with a base stolen from a cheap lamp.

The title is an apt description.